Apron mechanism for lathes



A. H. INGLE AND W. E. WARD.

APRON MECHANISM FOR LATHES.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 25. 1918.

Patented Jan. 17, 1922.

3 SHEETS-SHEET I- A. H. INGLE AND W. E. WARD.

APRON MECHANISM FOR LAIHES. APPLICATION FILED NOV-25.1918.

Patented Jan. 17, 1922.

3 SHEETS-$HEET 2.

ll IIIII l uml ll A. H. INGLE AND W. E. WARD.

APRON MECHANISM FOR LATHES. APPLICATION FILED Muir. 25. 1918.

1,404,027, Patented Jan. 17,- 1922.

lfaliacilfim I351] rncy UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ARTHUR H. INGLE AND WALLACE E. WARD, OF ROCHESTER, NEW YORK; SAID W'ARD ASSIGNOR T0 SAID INGLE.

APRON MECHANISM' FOR LATHES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 17, 1922.

Application filed November 25, 1918. Serial No. 264,070.

United States, and both residents of Rochester, in the county of Monroe and State of New York, have invented an Improvement inApron Mechanisms for Lathes, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like characters on the drawings representing like parts in each of the several views.

This invention relates to apron mechanism for lathes and more particularly to an improved manner of mounting and arranging the driving gearing and connections from the lengthwise extending feed shaft and screw of the lathe, for feeding the apron along the lathe bed and for imparting movement to the cross feed screw as required; One'important object of the invention is to provide an apron mechanism of this kind wherein the two housing .walls of the apron frame may be made all in one piece and the entireapron produced as a substantially integral and one piece unit. A further objectis to provide an improved arrangement and.

construction of the gearing'elements which impart driving movement from the feed shaft and screw to the apron for moving it by power in either direction with provision for convenient disconnection as required and with provision for connecting up the drive to the cross feed screw of the lathe when desired. The foregoing and other objects and advantages of the invention will more fully appear from the following detailed description. and the distinctive features of novelty \\llll)(3'}')Ol1ltB(l out in the appended claims. Referring to the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation showing an apron with our improvement embodied therein, and

a fragmentary portion of the lathe to which such apron is applied;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the apron removed with portions'broken away;

Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the, apron casting with the gearing parts removed;

Fig dis a planview thereof;

Fig.- 5 is an end view thereof;

Fig. '6 is a horizontal sectional view of the apron ona somewhat larger scale certain gear elements being displaced from true position to permit a showing in development, and

Fig. 7 is a detail elevation showing a safety device that constitutes one feature of the invention.

The numeral 1 indicates a fragmentary portion of a lathe bed equipped with usual slide ways 2 for the lathe apron and with a usual downwardly facing rack 3 for engagement by an operating inion on the apron. A usual feed screw an shaft is mounted in suitable bearings (not shown) of the lathe bed to extend lengthwise of the lathe as is usual. The apron is designated generally by the numeral 5 and in accordance with the present invention consists in a one piece structure, 71. 6., a single casting, with spaced apart vertical front and rear side walls 6 and T respectively, united by end block portions 8, 9 that may be relatively massive to afford the requisite rigidity as well as making provision for the shaft bearings formed therein. The upper portion of the rear wall 7 is formed with a suitable overhanging flange portion 10 fashioned to provide suitable means for slidably securing and guiding the apron along on the slide ways 2 of the lathe. The rear wall 7 is also formed with outwardly projecting spaced apart portions 11, 12 with suitable bearing blocks 13, 14 respectively, fixed thereto constituting bearings for the rearwardly' extending sleeves 15, 15 of spaced apart oppositely facing bevel pinions 16, 17, these pinions being equipped on their opposing front'sides with clutch faces 18. The feed shaft 19 is fitted through the sleeves 15 and onthis shaft is slidably fitted between the pinion 16, 17 the clutch sleeve 20 which is equipped with clutch faces 21 at its ends selectively engageable with the ,clutch faces 18 of the respective pinions 16,

appear, and the outer end of the shaft 23 having a further reduced portion 25 journaled in the outer apron wall 6. For trans mitting powerto operate the feed pinion to move the apron lengthwise along the bed, the pinion 24 meshes with gear 26 which is fixed on a flange sleeve 27 that has bearing in a flanged bushing block 28, this being removably fitted and bolted in a passage 29 provided therefor in the front apron wall 6. For a purpose that will presently appear, the radial. flange 27 of the flange sleeve 27 to whichthe gear26 is secured, is not greater in radial dimension than the passage 29 in which the bushing 28 is fitted. The inner side of the gear 26 is formed as the outer member of a'cone clutch 30', the

inner member 31 of which is rigidwitli a pinion 32 that is journaled ona pin 33, this pin having its inner end journaled in the rear apron wall 7 and having a. reduced forward portion fitted through the pinion 32 and clutch member 31 and also through the flange sleeve 27 with its outer extremity further reduced and equipped with a nut 34,

such outer reduced portion having fitted thereon a hand wheel and nut that is threaded'on an outer projecting portion of the flange sleeve 27 as seen at 36. The pinion 32 is fastened to the bearing pin 33 by a cotter pin 37 adapted to move outare of course separated. that this arrangement provides a S8lf-CO!1' ward the pinion 32 as the nut 35 is turned outward and thus the pinion 32 with the clutch member 31 are pressed outward at. the same time that the gear 26 with its cooperating clutch face 30 is pressed inward by the threaded engagement at 36 as the nut 35 is turned in one directioii, for clutching these members together, while upon a re verse movement thereof said clutch members It is to be noted tained friction clutch construction and 0136b ating means that is complete in itself with out requiring any backing upon the apron walls and hence that the operation of such clutch throws no pressure at any time on either apron wall. The pinion 32. meshes with a gear 38 keyed on areduced portion 39 of av shaft 40 that is journaled in the apron, this shaft having fixed at its inner end a pinion 41 that engages the rack 3 of the lathe bed.

' portion 39 of the shaft to which the gear 38 is keyed and this portion'is in aturn smaller than the portion 40 of the shaft which is journaled in the inner apron wall 7 to facilitate removal of parts from the one piece apron as will presently appear.

For movin the a ron manuall 1 as re uired a pinion 43 is fixed at the inner end of a shaft 44 journaled adjacent the' end of the apron, this pinion meshing with the: gear 38 and the shaft 44 having fixed at thereduced outer portion thereof a hand wheel 45.

I For. transmitting power to operate the cross feed screw of the lathe the pinion 24 mesheswith a gear 46 fixed on a flanged sleeve 47 journaled in a flanged. bushing block 48 that is set into, and fixed in a parsage 49 in the front wall 6 of, the apron housing. The relative construction of the sleeve The bearing 42 of shaft 40 j in the outer apron wall 6 is smaller than the 47 with its flange 47 with respect'to the bearing block 48 is similar to that of the end fitted into the rear wall 7 as seen at 51 V and has a pinion 52keyed thereon, thispinion having an external clutch face 53 at its outer side that co-operateswith an internal clutch face 54 formed in the wheel 46. An

outer projecting portion of the sleeve 47 has threaded thereon a nut and hand wheel 55 which is swiveled at the outer end of the pin 50, being held in place thereon by a nut: 56

on the end of said pin. Thus the clutch .members on the pinion 52 and the gear 46 may be engaged and disengaged atiwill by operating the nut 54. This clutch arrangement is thus also self-contained and adapted for actuation without employing the apron walls as a backing and throws no pressure on either apron wall at any time. The pinion 52 drives a pinion 57 suitably journaled on a stud shaft 58 at the topportion of the apron and this pinion in turn is in geared connection with a pinion ,59 at the end of the cross feed screw. Thus the lengthwise feed of the apron may be rendered operative or inoperative at will by-connecting or disconnecting the clutch faces 30, 31, through manipulation of the hand wheel and nut 35,

while the cross feed may be likewise ren dered operative or inoperative at will by connecting or d sconnecting the clutch faces 53 54 by inanipulation of the hand wheel and nut. 55.

The apron is also equipped. with an opening nut so that it may be fed along the bed by the operation of the screw threads on the feed shaft and screw 4. For this purpose a sectional .nut' composed of upper and lower portions 60, 61 is provided, these nut sections being slidably fitted adjacent one'end of the apron for movement towardseach other so as to embracethe nut or to open away from the same, the'sections being connected as is usual by 1inks'62 to an oscillating head 63 journaled in the apron and equipped with an operating handle 64 extending at the side of the apron. In accordance with our invention ,mea'nsfis provided whereby itis impossible'to move the nut sec-' tions into operative engagement with the screw 19 except when the sleeve, 20 which transmits power for. moving the apron through the pinion 41, is in neutral inoperative position, and likewise prevents the sleeve 20 from being moved into operative engagement with either of the pinions 16, 17

an upstanding arm 7 3 which bears a shipper yoke 7% that engages and operates the clutch sleeve 20. This arm 7 3 also has rigid therewith a handle 7 5 which extends without the apron and may be equipped with suitable means such as a spring pressed pin indicated at 7 6 engaging a shallow socket in a boss 77 of the apron front to. hold it in adjusted position. It is to be noted that there is a close fit between the pointed projection with the bar 67 at one end, and the wedge block 65 therewith at the other end, and hence as the nut sections 60, 61 are moved towards each other upon the screw, the wedge block 65 being moved upward will press over the bar 67 to the left as indicated in Fig. 1 and thus hold the wedge shaped end 7 0 locked in the seat 69 at the other end of the bar 67, this holding the arm 73 in position to maintain the sleeve 20 in intermediate or neutral position. On the other hand supposing the nut sections'to be opened, and the sleeve 20 moved to engage the rack feed, the pointed end 70 of the projection 71 will be moved out of the seat 69 and against the adjacent end portion of the bar 67 thus pushing it over to the right as seen in Fig. 1 far enough so that the block (35 cannot be raised and hence the nut sections cannot be closed on to the screw. In order to permit the assemblage of the several gearing and operating parts described, in a one piece apron as stated,the following means are devised. The integral projections 11, 12 on the rear wall 7 of the apron are formed to constitute onehalf of the bearing passage for the pinion sleeves 15, the other outer half of such passage being formed by the half-sleeve bearing blocks 13, 14 bolted or otherwise suitably secured thereto. The gears 52, 46, 31, 26 and 38 are dropped in from the open top of the apron whereupon the pins 50, 33 and the shaft 40 are inserted from the back through the rear wall 7, the bearing openings for the pin 50, 33 being extended through the projections 11, 12 of the wall 7 for this purpose as indicated at 79. Then the flange sleeves 27 4:? are inserted in place from the front through the passages 29, 49 respectively. An opening may be formed in the rear Wall large enough to afford clearance for the pinion 43 so that it and the shaft 44 may be fitted in place from the rear. The shaft 23 with the gear 22 may also be fitted in place from the back, since as explained the pinion 2st is not larger than the diameter of the shaft 23 and hence can pass through the bearing opening of said shaft in the rear wall 7. The rear wall 7 of the apron is also preferably equipped at its top with a shallow trough 81 to receive a supply of oil, with suitable passages therefrom for distributing the oil to the several bearings.

The one piece construction of apron frame thus provided for, may be produced much. more cheaply and readily than the built-up multipiece apron frames heretofore usual. since of course the machining of interfitting frame parts is dispensed with and a single casting operation only is required to produce the entire apron frame which may then be machined as a whole, and have its several bearing holes and passages trued out easily and quickly. Further such a one piece apron frame is advantageous from the standpoint of strength and rigidity as will be readily understood. The described construction and arrangement of gearing in the apron permits a flexible and readily shiftable drive connection lfrom the feed screw and shaft 19 so that the apron may be fed lengthwise in either direction, or the cross slide fed crosswise by the pinion drive and clutch connection from the feed shaft, or said shaft may be employed'as a feed screw to feed the apron for screw cutting and like uses through the nut 60, the interposed safety device including the slide bar 67, and wedge block 65 insuring that only one of the feed mechanisms for the apron can be operatively connected at the same time. e are aware that the invention may be embodied in other specific forms as to its various features without departing from the spirit or essential attributes thereof. and we therefore desire the present embodiment to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, reference being had to the appended claims rather than to the foregoing description to indicate the scope of the invention.

Having described our invention, what we claim new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. Apron mechanism for lathes, eompris ing an apron lframe, a feed shaft and screw associated therewith, gearing mounted in said apron frame and selectively engageable with said feed shaft and adapted to engage a rack on the lathe bed for feeding the apron, and means for operating said apron selectively from said feed screw or through said rack including a friction face clutch, said clutch constructed as a self-contained unit for operation free of pressure on either apron wall.

2. Apron mechanism, comprising an apron frame and gearing mounted therein for engagement with a feed screw and shaft and adapted to co-operate also with a rack on a self-contained unit adapted for operation 7 free of pressure or hacking engagement with either apron wall.

3. In combination, an apron frame, a feed shaft and screw associated therewith, gearing mounted in. said apron frame selectively Gilgflfjtfibifi with said feed shaiit and engaging a rack on the lathe bed for feeding the apron, an opening feed nut carried by the apron adapted to selectively engage the feed screw, and means connecting said nut and said'gearing whereby when the nut is engaged with the screw said gearing must be disengaged from the feed shaft and vice versa, said means consisting in awedge member carried by said. nut, a slide bar engageahle therewith equipped with a seat at its end, and a clutch shifter connected to operate a clutch forming a part of said gearing, having a conical portion engaging in said seat of said slide bar and held therein when pressed by said wedge member as the nut is closed on to the feed screw.

a. Apron mechanism for lathes, comprising an apron frame equipped with gearing for co-operation with a feed screw and with a rack on a lathe bed, said apron frame formed with a single trough extended lengthwise of the top thereof having pas-. sages conmiunicating therewith for the. distribution of oil to the several hearings.

In testimony whereof, we have signed our names to this specification.

ARTHUR H. INGLE. WALLACE E. wane. 

